HKM400

This happened today, and I bloody missed it happening. Don’t imagine it’s the first time around the block though being a 5 digit odometer. *next update in 99,996k

Yep it's really horrible. Not an OS car but I have looked after it really well. Hope I get it back in one piece

Hi all,

Sadly my daily was stolen today from my work in Hornby Christchurch.

It may be a long shot but If anyone sees it around Christchurch could you please contact me. The police have been notified.

Registration is EWQ447

Silver Subaru WRX, big wing with gold wheels as pictured. I am totally gutted.  

Have messaged you some details, cheers

Recently, my work decided to sell off some fixed assets, so I decided to buy two of these contraptions. They were designed to lift a small portable building (there were 4 of them for this purpose) in order for a transporter trailer to be wheeled in underneath and then lower the building down onto the trailer deck.

I thought one might make a good addition to the Landy- and the price was too good to refuse. So I bought a pair of them, and now own two Superwinch Terra 25's. They are probably better suited to lighter vehicles or ATV's but they still have impressive pulling power- around 1200kg. 

Will make up a mounting plate- have to remove the cover as below so it will sit closer to the grill. Maybe inset a fairlead in the exisiting front bar. Should look pretty cool regardless.

Am also thinking about powder coating the 15x8's black to match the canvas roof. Have been driving the car to work recently and it is such good fun. Still getting used to the fact that it doesn't want to die at intersections. Idle is so smooth and quiet. 

Thoughts or comments welcomed- also if anyone wants the other winch let me know, no known use for it at this point....

Cheers, new sender is on the way. Thanks @locost_bryan

Thanks @FraserNZ there are a few gaps around the radiator which probably isn't assisting with airflow so may seal them up with some foam tape or something like that.

The temp does climb when in traffic, but remains relatively constant when driving at normal road speed. Does need a proper bleed I think, new cap on the block should assist with that. Electric fan is mounted to the back, and pulls air through the rad. 

MG is my dads- I store the Lotus in the same garage as I don't have one of my own currently.

Hopefully with a good bleed and a new temp sensor we will be underway again. 

I did replace the sensor awhile back- and had trouble finding one that actually fitted so a good point and I will check- how does one know how to match the sensor to the gauge?

Engine doesn't seem to struggle as the temps increase either so maybe I am being lied to by my gauge.

Radiator is pretty new- I will do a proper flush on it I think- my electric fan is fitted to the back however, maybe that is causing issues? The fan is setup to pull air through the radiator which I guess is correct. Might have more luck if it is mounted in front and blows air through? Or maybe the fan is a bit shit...

Track day on Friday went much the same as the last, with different problems. I had new brushes put in the alternator which solved my lack of charging.

I had some overheating issues last time, if the gauge is correct. Was getting up around 95-100 degrees, so I cut the spring out of the thermostat and removed the innards, leaving just the body- I've heard that crossflows don't like having the thermostat housing empty? Anyway, it didn't fix my issues. Driving to the track was fine, sat around 81 degrees. As soon as I got on track it climbed to around 90 when I decided to call it quits on the first session and let it cool. Didn't boil though. Was quite a hot day and some other cars were having issues.

I also put the old thermostat housing back on the engine as shown below. The radiator has its own cap but it is slightly lower than the head- my theory was that the air needs to escape at the highest point so it should be easier to bleed the air out? Maybe just wasn't bled properly as it was a rushed Thursday night job.

Then the throttle linkage came off, nut must have shaken itself off- got towed in. Embarrassing but relatively easy fix.

And then this happened

Throttle cable broke at the pedal end. Towed in again. Then proceeded to the nearest bottle store and purchased the event organizers a box for the inconvenience. So that was the end of the day. Pulled through the block on the accelerator pedal.

So I wound the idle up, tied a knot in the cable, put a zip tie on it so I didn't cut my hand up, and drove home with a hand throttle. There were a lot of helpful people at the track, giving advice and offering to try and help solve issues, maybe some are members on here, if so, I thank you. 

Any thoughts on the overheating issue would be appreciated/ what temp should it be running. It has a near new Honda alloy radiator, electric fan, have put descaling solution through the cooling system recently and refilled with good coolant mix.

One day I will get a decent lap in...

Discussion/ advice welcomed

On 7/19/2018 at 08:13, flyingbrick said:

I am prepared to answer this question however the necessary google searches wont happen while im at work. LOL

Still awaiting my education 

I cannot comment on the phallus of a seal, do they even have one? 

Bit of a disaster on Saturday.

3 laps in, and the seal on the oil filter popped out at 100k, unloading all four point something litres out the side of the car in about 2 seconds, some of which ended up in my face.

Got it turned off as soon as possible- don't think it has done any damage. Re-seated the seal, filled it back up with oil and nursed halfway home, as the alternator decided to not charge, then got towed the rest of the way.

Inconvenienced other track users which I feel guilty about- thankfully they had something to soak it off the track with.

Anyone ever encountered issues with filters blowing seals out? Certainly a new one for me. I may be more selective in my brand choice in future...

Photographic evidence of my slippery shower on the rear guard/side of the car. It does wonders for your hair...

Made it to the last track day at Ruapuna, getting more confident with the car.

Very cold start to the day, was minus 5 when I set off- dressed like the Michelin Man looking more like I was going skiing than driving. 

Still wouldn't rev out- gets to 3500 revs and the powerband starts to come on hard, will get to about 4500 and then it just hesitates and won't rev any harder. Tacho should be reading correctly as it is new and has been tested. By ear it sounds correct.

I have taken the manifold off and put a new gasket on, and also remounted the carb to the manifold with new rubber seals. Haven't over tightened it either as I think this was the issue last time- some kind of vacuum leak. It was also running lean (occasionally backfiring out the carb itself) so have readjusted the mixture screws for both barrels and will take it for a drive tomorrow to see if that fixes it. Started up fine and I adjusted the idle so fingers crossed. 

Any weber carb experts out there feel free to give me some tips/point out what I might be doing wrong.

Car also overheated slightly, I think there may still be a bit of sludgy buildup inside the block as it did sit for awhile after the rebuild. Will try and descale it tomorrow- may even put a cooler thermostat in. Usual operating temp is 90 degrees which is about right for a crossflow?

Next track day is Saturday 14th- hoping for some good weather for it. 

Comments or advice welcomed,

Chairs

I tried to enter this on the most recent Saturday track day at Ruapuna, but my ambitious plans to get a WOF within a week were a bit too ambitious.

Failed on a lacking bracket for the rear brake hose, and the front guards were not secured tightly enough- so I remedied this with some aluminium.

Also failed on excessive movement in the steering rack end- lucky it is a shim type so replaced the shims and tightened everything up- no more play. 

Also made a new chassis plate- as it never actually had one

As it happened the weather was terrible the day of the event anyway- so took the daily instead which turned out to be a good move- photo credit to Rowan Seymour.

   Hoping to get it to the track for the next event in late June- weather permitting of course. Still need to sort my tuning issue. And I am becoming tired of being hit in the face by large insects. A windscreen is needed soon- not sure who to contact though. Any suggestions on fabricators appreciated. 

Chairs

It's been a fair while.

At the second WOF in many years,  the diff whine was addressed, and a bigger battery fitted.

I attended the track day at Ruapuna in November, and there were no major issues. Drove it fairly hard too so I was very pleased. Still don't think it's quite running to the full potential however, need to have a further look at this, but have really just been enjoying having the car legal and running for the hot weather. 

As mentioned previously the next step I would like to take is change to cycle guards, but would be good to get the car running as it should before any non essential aesthetic modification begins. 

Aiming to get back on track at some point in the next few months, and get more comfortable with it, however, I am certain that it can well exceed my limited driving ability...

Have put around 800k's on this so far, nothing has really gone wrong apart from the clam shell bracket breaking, the diff continuing to whine, and being caught out in the rain on 3 occasions. 

Looking to change to cycle guards- will have to figure a plan out for that. 

Also looking into changing the diff- might go for a helical LSD.

Fitted some nice low profile side mirrors.

Also need to sort a bonnet- which I will need to get fabricated. Currently it has a single side draft, but the manifold is on quite a rake, so there will need to be a hole in the bonnet so the carb can protrude. A solution would be to switch to a twin carb manifold which would keep the carbs horizontal, and run twin 40's so I get full bonnet clearance, but this is a further expense, further complexity and it's running great with the single 40.  

Anyway- photo from the last outing

Cheers

Agreed, seems that way. Might be a case of trial and error with the torque?

Many things have occurred.

I got new bearings and seals pressed in- which solved the leaking issue into the brakes.

I also had a new pinion seal put in- as it leaked... which is where I believe the new issues have arisen from.

Put it all back together one evening last week- but the diff is now extremely noisy on the overrun- which suggests that the nut on the pinion is not tight enough? (Based on reliable internet searching...) This puzzles me though as the mechanic that did it clearly marked the nut, and accounted for the number of threads and their location in relation to the nut- it is also the reason I enlisted a professional, as I have a feeling I was going to stuff it up. 

The noise hurts my feelings. 

Also on one of my recent test drives one of the headlight brackets snapped- which then meant the clamshell slumped down- so I'm going to beef up my mounts for the actual clams so there isn't as much strain on the headlight brackets. 

It looks so cool without front guards. 

I would take it for a sneaky open wheel drive if the diff didn't cause me so much concern. 

Any advise on my noisy diff would be appreciated. 

Chairs

Indeed in Christchurch.

That would be awesome if you don't mind- I think they're savable. Greenstuffs too so a new set won't be that cheap.

Been enjoying having this on the road, have taken it to diamond harbour and other various destinations- and to work on appropriate days (ie when it isn't raining and there is no chance of it raining). It's running really well. Some may have noticed my gearbox related ramblings which turned out to be the tacho reading high- and me feeling like an arse. This issue is now remedied with a diode in the negative line to the coil. Now reads as it should.

Have had an issue with the diff leaking- needs a pinion seal which I got from Enford during the week- I think using it over the last week or so has rooted the seal more so, it now drips a bit more than before.

There were also some pinholes in the rear case so I figured shit weather means an ideal time to change it. Took the diff out Friday and ground back to find my holes

Of which there are several. 

Also decided to check the bearings while it was out- they're fucked. Pitted and not good. The seals are also leaking through the backplate, which is very shit because it's got on the near new pads... I'm guessing there is no fix but to replace them? They weren't super wet but oil+brakes seems less than ideal

Will get a wheel bearing kit from Enford this week, will need to get the old ones ripped out and new ones pressed in. Hopefully that will solve my leaking issues and I will be able to stop very quickly.  

//oldschool.co.nz/index.php?/topic/46798-hkm400s-1969-lotus-7-series-3/

Success. Put a diode between the negative lead on the coil and the tacho. Now reading much lower. Haven't taken it above 60 but it's reading way less- about 3k at 60.

Cheers for your help guys. Now I have to get some balls and see what revs it's doing at 100. 80 was scary enough...

Needle is pretty steady- it's more the over reading thing.

Points and condenser are pretty much brand new from the rebuild. I don't understand how it's making THAT MUCH noise at 80 though

Good plan, that's my next bet- went and bought some diodes from eparrot... apparently that is the fix for overreading/ wobbling needle.

Will try my 2 dollar fix. If not, I'll go hunt down another tacho to see what is going on.